Inside Line: BMW 1 Series M Coupe First Drive

InsideLine delivers a new review of the BMW 1 Series M Coupe. Does the “baby-M” lives up to its hype? Let’s find out. “Let’s not …

InsideLine delivers a new review of the BMW 1 Series M Coupe. Does the “baby-M” lives up to its hype? Let’s find out.

“Let’s not extend the suspense any longer. The 2011 BMW 1 Series M Coupe is a fantastically compelling machine. It is fast — faster in real-world terms than the M3 on most roads. It has a truly brawny engine that sounds great at wide-open throttle, handles with all the precision expected of a car wearing the evocative M badge, and is super practical given its performance brief.

And, to our eyes at least, the BMW 1M looks great — even in the garish metallic orange paint scheme BMW has chosen for launch cars.

A True M Car?
It has taken more than four years to get to the point where the 1 Series M Coupe is even ready for production. Along the way, BMW decided not to provide its most affordable performance model with a unique engine as with every M car that had gone before it.

With such a troubled birth, the big question is whether the new car can live up to the high standards of the original E30 M3, a car BMW suggests is the spiritual ancestor to the 1 Series M Coupe. If first impressions are anything to go by, the answer is an unequivocal yes.

Canadian car magazine Auto123 brings us a new review of the BMW 1M, one of the purest M cars as many journalists and fans have …

Tavo

It’s sad to keep on reading blogs and magazines comparing the new 1M to the E30 M3…. Nonsense like the “same DNA” or “spiritual ancestor” make me want to puke…

Most people who write about this seems to forget why the E30 M3 was even developed, ie, to be an HOMOLOGATION RACE car to compete in the German DTM.

The 1M is not an homologation car, it might be a very competent sport car, but is not an homologation special like the E30 M3. And for sure it’ll faster than a stock E30 M3, but that doesn’t mean it’s the same type of car.

Also, will see how it handles the abuse at the track in real world conditions like with high ambient temperatures and some of the problems that have plagued the N54/N55 engines due low efficiency cooling, including oil cooling…. not to mention the high pressure fuel pump problems….

I can take a stock E30 M3 at the track and it’ll do many laps without problems, let’s see if the 1M can do the same….